Year in Review: Latos was selected in the 11th round of the 2006 draft by the Padres, and he made his Major League debut in 2009. Despite spending more than two seasons in the minors, Latos only pitched 187 innings in that span. During his time in the minors, he sported an awesome 10.4 K/9 and 4.6 K/BB, but those numbers did not transfer over to the big leagues. He pitched 50.2 innings for San Diego, just narrowly expiring his rookie status, striking out 39 and walking 23. He earned himself a 4.62 ERA and 1.30 WHIP in the process. His main weapons were his fastball, which clocks in at around 94 mph, and his 12-6-style curveball thrown in the low-80s.

The Year Ahead: Many were surprised to see Latos’ strikeout numbers so low in the Majors, but not stats junkies. Major League Equivalencies predicted his strikeouts would fall, but thought he would walk a batter less per nine than he actually did. Chalk that one up to his lack of control, which is demonstrated by his 36.1% ground-ball rate. Also keep in mind that he reached the Majors much sooner than expected, so he still has a lot to learn about pitching. His .257 BABIP against made his ERA lower than it should be, which is not good considering it was already above 4.50. Latos will be on an innings-limit again in 2010, and his already-high ERA could rise, despite his favorable home park. Stay away from Latos if you can help it, as he is too much of a wild card at this point. (Zach Sanders)

Profile: Just 22 in 2010, Latos has an outstanding sophomore season. He has a big, strong pitcher's frame and provided 185 innings, which means he should be good for 200+ innings in the coming year. The right-hander has the ceiling of a No. 1 starter and his numbers will be even better given that he'll pitch approximately 50% of his games in San Diego. Latos is a rare pitcher that can produce excellent control numbers while also offering 200+ strikeouts. If you're looking to nitpick, his ground-ball rates are usually average, or a little below, but that is less of an issue for a San Diego pitcher (due to the spacious park). Despite his youth and inexperience, Latos should be a solid mixed-league option. He's the best pitcher on the staff by leaps and bounds, but the club's offense should be fairly pathetic, so it's hard to know how many wins he'll be able to pull in. (Marc Hulet)

The Quick Opinion: It's hard to put a lot of faith in young pitchers but Latos is oozing with potential and he pitches in a very favorable park. He should have value in both NL-only and mixed leagues.

Profile: Latos hit an early season speed bump (shoulder inflammation) as he tried to follow up his breakout 2010 campaign, but he again had a strong season despite ever so slight declines in strikeout (9.21 to 8.57), walk (2.44 to 2.87), and ground ball (44.7% to 42.8%) rates. Latos, still just 24, is now moving out of spacious Petco Park and into the hitter friendly Great American Ballpark, so it will take a minor miracle for him not to see a spike in his ERA (3.47 in 2011) and WHIP (1.18). On the other hand, being on a better club should help get him back into double-digit wins territory. Latos is one of the very best young pitchers in game and could establish himself as one of baseball's truly elite in 2012, but the ballpark change will absolutely hurt going forward. Count on him for strikeouts and wins, but adjust your ERA and WHIP expectations accordingly. (Mike Axisa)

The Quick Opinion: There aren't many young pitchers in the game more exciting than Latos, but moving out of Petco Park and into the Great American Ballpark will hurt his fantasy value. Expect lots of strikeouts and double-digit wins, but ERA and WHIP projections are going to have to be adjusted upwards.

Profile: Mat Latos saw the expected uptick in home runs allowed in his move from San Diego to Cincinnati, but he was able to remain nearly as effective despite the move to the more difficult ballpark. Latos got off to a pretty terrible start in Cincinnati and there was certainly at least some worry that he was a product of pitching in Petco through his first 14 starts, where he netted a 5.20 ERA. Latos essentially ditched his changeup midseason and turned his year around. It is worth monitoring the usage of that pitch this spring, but he seems to be excelling with his fastball and two breaking balls. Entering this year, Latos has recorded three consecutive years with at least 31 starts and will be pitching in his age-25 season. His 2010 campaign may have been a bit on the fluky side, but he has proven to be a well above-average pitcher and has remained consistent despite his fastball dropping a full mile per hour from his first full year. Latos is certainly not an elite pitcher, but he is a consistent three-win pitcher and should continue to produce at this level. (Ben Duronio)

The Quick Opinion: For fantasy purposes, moving to Cincinnati certainly hurt Latos' value and he has had issues out of the gate throughout his career, with a 5.73 ERA in March and April. There is a chance that his overall ERA does not match his actual value as he was a different pitcher when he removed his changeup from the equation. With a solid defense behind him and on a team that should win many games, Latos is a good bet for mid-teens wins and an ERA below 3.50.

Profile: In his two seasons since departing the pitcher friendly confines of PETCO Park to the home run inflating environment of the Great American Ballpark, Latos has laughed in the face of those who were worried about his effectiveness. All he has done is post an ERA nearly identical to his last year in San Diego, followed by even better results this year. While his SIERA has jumped, he had no issues with the long ball, surrendering just a 6.9% home run per fly ball rate rate this year. Though his strikeout rate has dropped, his swinging strike rate has remained constant, while his first strike rate hit a career high. The SwStk% suggests that a return to a strikeout rate well above eight per nine is a strong possibility. Latos underwent surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow in mid-October, but those procedures are typically minor and it shouldn't affect his performance in 2014. (Mike Podhorzer)

The Quick Opinion: Latos enjoyed another strong performance, while maintaining pretty consistent skills. While his ERA is likely headed upwards after he benefited from a low home run per fly ball rate, some of the regression could be offset by a jump in strikeout rate, given his healthy whiff rate.

Profile: Latos didn't make his first start of 2014 until mid-June, but he turned in a pretty fantasy-friendly 102.1 innings once he did take the mound. His 3.25 ERA and 1.15 WHIP are obviously good numbers and in line with what he had done in his two previous seasons in Cincinnati. But it's somewhat surprising that he was able to maintain that level of performance given a steep drop in fastball velocity. His average fastball velocity was down about two miles per hour, which seems like the culprit for his strikeout rate dropping about 3.5-4% from where it had been the two years prior. And it's not like his velocity increased as he worked his way through the season. The velocity drop may not be the reason that his batted ball mix changed, but it's equally concerning that he induced the lowest rate of ground balls he has in any full season and gave up fly balls at a rate closer to what he did when in San Diego. He managed to keep balls in the park at an above average rate, but if his home run per fly ball rate regresses back to his norm, or if he has some bad luck in that respect, the results could be ugly. The picture painted here may be a bit negative, but there's not anything indicating things are going to get better for Latos. Hoping things stay the same also seems blindly optimistic. Maybe things will only get a little bit worse, but it will be hard for him to live up to his draft day price no matter what. (Brett Talley)

The Quick Opinion: A drop in velocity and a concerning shift in batted ball mix make Latos a prime candidate to regress in 2015. It's possible injury concerns could depress his draft day price to the point where he's worth drafting, but most likely he won't be a good value.

Profile: Mat Latos took little Cat Latos on a wild ride in 2015, pitching for three different clubs, none of whom seemed overly enthused to be requiring his services. The Marlins acquired Latos in the offseason with the hopes that he’d anchor the rotation behind Jose Fernandez, but were treated to an injury plagued first half, before actually giving up prospects to rid themselves of the right-hander -- as well as Mike Morse’s contract. The Dodgers saw the underlying skillset of Latos’, not the nearly 4.50 ERA he managed with the Marlins, but were burned over five starts and sent him packing instead of letting him sit around in the bullpen. The Angels took a flier only to give Latos a couple of relief appearances as the season ended. While you may remember Mat Latos’ 2015 as a tragic comedy of errors, it’s important to note that he wasn’t nearly as bad as he seemed; his strikeout rate was above-average, as was his walk rate, and outside of his final two outings for the Halos he didn’t give up too many homers. While there’s potentially personality and clubhouse issues at play, Latos will find a home in Chicago this year, and he’ll do so as a bargain. The same can be said for fantasy leagues, though we don’t have to worry about silly things like chemistry and interpersonal relationships from our dark basements. Latos has never been a fantasy ace, but he’s been a top-40 starter when healthy, so take a flier on him and hope he stays that way. (Zach Sanders)

The Quick Opinion: Mat Latos’ 2015 was, in short, a disappointment. Now in line for a rotation spot, a healthy Latos makes for a great flier in most formats.

Profile: Latos has played for five teams the past two seasons and the results have been poor at each stop. One of the main culprits has been his home runs per 9, which had been a relative strength for Latos prior to 2015. His career home run to fly ball percentage sits at 9%, but in 2015 it was 12% and in 2016 it was 13%, which is interesting considering he put better HR/FB numbers when pitching for the Reds in a more homer-friendly park. Outside of the home run rates, it is hard to nail down one other cause as his numbers are all over place. In 2015, his walks per 9 were consistently under 2 as his strikeouts per 9 jumped around, and then his BB/9 shot up in 2016 as his K/9 went down. The same goes for his batting average on balls in play that was all over the place. His fielding independent pitching favored his 88 innings with Miami in 2015 (3.41) and his 9 innings in the pen with Washington in 2016 (3.97) more than his earned run average would indicate, but the rest of his stops does not give much hope towards improvement. Latos is still looking for work at this point. (Paul Kastava)

The Quick Opinion: The wheels have fallen off for Latos the past two seasons, and at this point, he is still unemployed. An opportunity for some bullpen work may turn up, but even that would be a low-leverage opportunity right now.